One of the great features of the Google Play Store is that is allows you to install software on your Android devices remotely. This is a clever trick you should be using and here’s your guide.

There is almost never an need to install Android apps on your phone or tablet by going to the Google Play Store on the device. It is much easier to use a computer. After all, many people sit at one for hours every day, and browsing the store is just so much easier on a PC or Mac.

Using a desktop or laptop computer enables you to browse, search and install apps faster than using the Android phone or tablet itself. You can even be at work and install apps on your tablet or phone at home.

The screen is bigger, the browser shows more apps, you can check out comments from users easier, and you can choose which device to install apps on if you have more than one. Try it and see.

For this guide I will be using Google Chrome, but the browser does not matter. You just need to be signed in to your Google account.

1 Browse the store

Open a browser on your PC or Mac and go to play.google.com. The website provides access to everything - music, movies, books and apps. Click Apps on the left.

2 Check out the apps

Browse, use the search facility, explore the categories and so on. When you find an app you like, click the icon to open the app details page. Click the Install button.

3 Pick a device

Every Android device you own or have owned in the past is listed and you must choose the one you want to install the app on from the list and click Install.

Here I have an Asus Nexus 7 tablet and a couple of Samsung phones. The top phone is my current one, as can be seen by the date it was last used. (The date looks like the last time an app was installed, rather than the date the device was last used. I’ve used it today, but it’s not today’s date.)

Below it is my previous phone, which says No carrier Samsung. The store remembers every device you had.

4 Wait for it

After selecting the device and clicking install, the app is scheduled to install. If the phone or tablet is connected to Wi-Fi, it is installed a few seconds later, but if it isn’t on Wi-Fi it might wait until later to avoid using all your data.

Using a browser on your computer to explore the Google Play Store enables you to easily install different apps on different devices. For example, you might have a phone and a tablet, and work apps could be installed on the phone and games and other leisure apps on the tablet.

You can sit at your computer and install a bunch of apps very easily, then grab your device and start using them.

Comments

Will the app run though? For example, my daughter wanted to use my cell which was at home. I wanted to monitor her activity on my phone. If I downloaded a sms tracker would it be running or would it not work until I get home to open it?